2010 Hola Mexico Film Festival

Alamar (To The Sea)

Hola Mexico Film Festival, the biggest Mexican film festival in the world, is back again with a splendid collection of feature films and documentaries. Kicking off in Sydney tomorrow, Thursday 3 November, it will be showing at Dendy Newtown and Dendy Opera Quays until Sunday 14 November.

2010 marks the centenary of the Mexican revolution, and to celebrate this important milestone, 10 leading Mexican directors have joined forces and produced a compilation of 10 short films under the title Revolucion. The short films explore the idea of revolution and what it means to young Mexicans today.

My picks Alamar, Año Bisiesto and Norteado are all multi-award winning films, promising captivating stories about love, solitude and hope. With a selection of colourful and inspiring characters, these features are fueled with diversity, energy and passion staying true to its Latin American roots.

For more details and a full list of feature films and documentaries and their screening times, check the festival website.

Italian Film Festival 2010

Baarìa

I know Sydney’s been spoilt for choice with film festivals recently, but there is a certain excitement and anticipation I reserve for the Italian Film Festival that is very different to any other collection of films. Having studied history of Italian cinema, this may just be a subjective (or a cultural) thing. But it could also be that Italy has given us some of the most influential film directors ever and that it has produced a potpourri of brilliant and inspiring films. Every year we come to expect an explosion of passion and drama which Italian cinema is so famous for. And this year, the festival organizers didn’t shy away in highlighting this, handpicking 26 films which had just taken part in prestigious Cannes, Berlin, Rome and Venice festivals.

My list of favourites is long, but I have picked a few which I think are absolute musts. The first is the festival opening night drama La Nostra Vita, with the award winning performance by Elio Germano. It is a story of a working-class man and his family living on the outskirts of Rome and it examines some of Italy’s current and most important issues. The aspect of this film I’m looking forward to most, is the soundtrack by the Italian rock legend Vasco Rossi.

Another festival film with a noteworthy soundtrack (and the biggest film budget in Italy ever!) is Baaria. Film director Giuseppe Tornatore and the prolific and influential Italian composer Ennio Morricone have a tendency of collaborating on some very interesting work. Baaria is a portrait of a Sicilian family depicted across three generations, from 1920s to 1980s, through the eyes of the main character, Peppino. It gives us an insight of what life was like in Sicily during the Fascist era and the second World War, the liberation by the Allies and the mafia-controlled community.

Draquila—Italy Trembles (L’Italia che trema) is a documentary by the well-known actress and satirist Sabina Guzzanti who also brought us Viva Zapatero! a few years ago. Her new docco is a clever examination of the April 2009 catastrophic earthquake of L’Aquila, which killed over 300 civilians and left most of the city’s population homeless, and how the Italian government used this disaster to gain political power.

And the list of really compelling and entertaining features goes on and on … The Double Hour, The First Beautiful Thing, Cosmonaut, The Front Line just to name a few. The 11th Lavazza Italian Film Festival is showing in Palace Cinemas from Thursday 23 September until Sunday 10 October. For all the details, hit the festival website.

Sydney Latin American Film Festival

The Last Summer Of La Boyita

It’s the film festival season, all right. To launch us into a warmer part of the year, Sydney Latin American Film Festival (SLAFF) is coming to town with over 60 exciting films from all over the South and Central American region. In its 5th year, this not-for-profit, 100% volunteer-run festival, will kick off with a multi-award winning Argentine comedy A Matter of Principles on Wednesday 1 September, at the Dendy Opera Quays. This opening feature is said to be a rather funny drama and a true crowd-pleaser.

Other multi-award winning comedies, both Mexican, are Crossing and Chilango Chronicles. Crossing is about two Mexicans and their hopeless attempt to illegally cross to the US, while the latter is a surrealist take on three ‘chilangos’ (inhabitants of Mexico City) and their lives as their stories intersect. Chilango Chronicles was Mexico’s official selection for the 2010 Golden Globe Awards.

There are quite a number of very interesting documentaries this year, but these two stood out for me most: Sins Of My Father and Chasing Che. The former is a story of the infamous Columbian drug cartel boss Pablo Escobar told by his son Sebastian. It is an fascinating account of an extraordinary childhood and an intimate relationship with his father, Columbia’s public enemy number one. Chasing Che is a documentary made by an Iranian businessman who decides to venture into a four-year journey of South America and Europe in an effort to achieve a better understanding of Che and his vision.

The festival will run until Sunday 19 September at a number of venues. All proceeds from SLAFF will be going towards grassroots community development projects in Latin America. For more info and a complete screening schedule, visit the festival website.

Russian Resurrection Film Festival

Russian Resurrection Film Festival

What better way to celebrate the end of (what seemed a very long) Sydney winter than with a world-class selection of films from one of the coldest countries on this planet, Russia. In its 7th year, Russian Resurrection Film Festival brings a collection of 17 new films (plus a World War II retrospective) and is said to be the largest festival of Russian film outside Russia.

The multi-award winning features One War and How I Ended This Summer, which I failed to see at the 2010 Sydney Film Festival, are my top picks. The former is a captivating story of compassion set in World War II, while the latter is an uncanny exploration of human relationship with each other, time and space. How I Ended This Summer is set on a remote Arctic island, and is praised for its beautiful cinematography.

Two more features sparked my interest and I would be keen to see either the festival opening night romantic drama Man at the Window or Peter on His Way to Heaven, a film about a a mentally handicapped youth in a prison-camp town during Stalin’s Russia.

Russian Resurrection Film Festival opens on Thursday 19 August and runs until Wednesday 1 September 2010 at Chauvel Cinema in Paddington. A selection of films will also be shown in Burwood and Bondi Junction cinemas. For a full listing, visit the Russian Resurrection website.

Sydney Film Festival 2010

Exit Through the Gift Shop

This year’s Sydney Film Festival is jam-packed with some of the best in international and Australian features, shorts, documentaries and archive titles. The full program was announced a few weeks ago and the most popular choices such as Banksy’s Exit Through the Gift Shop, The Messenger starring Woody Harrelson, I Am Love starring Tilda Swinton and Roman Polanski’s The Ghost Writer with Ewan McGregor, Kim Cattrall and Pierce Brosnan, have already sold out. Also shown to be very popular and now sold-out are films like New Zealand’s Boy, beautiful animation The Illusionist and Australian feature Caught Inside.

No One Knows About Persian Cats

Because I love all things related to music, I am always very excited about the ‘Sounds on Screen’ selection of films and documentaries. This year, Sydney Film Festival brings an interesting mix of music genres to the screen. Definitely worth seeing is No One Knows About Persian Cats, an Iranian documentary on the underground indie rock scene in Tehran, and The Runaways, a film based on the 70’s all-girl band from LA.

In its 57th year, Sydney Film Festival’s selection of films doesn’t seize to impress. There are hundreds of other beautiful, moving and stimulating films to be discovered. For a full list and session times, check out the festival website. Sydney Film Festival kicks off on Wednesday 2 June and finishes on Monday 14 June.

2010 Spanish Film Festival

Fernando Trueba's Belle Epoque

Hola! It’s the Spanish Film Festival time of the year again, and this year it’s jam-packed with even more Latin passion. This time around, the festival is featuring Spanish film director Fernando Trueba’s four films, including the 1993 Academy Award winner in the Best Foreign Language Film category Belle Epoque. This romantic comedy is set in pre-Franco Spain and stars young Penelope Cruz. It is a story of four sisters competing for the attention of a carefree army deserter. If you’re a big fan of Cruz, you may also want to check out the 1998 feature The Girl Of Your Dreams, also by Trueba.

Return to Hansala is one of my favourites this year, because it deals with the ever increasing and confronting issues of illegal immigration, and its terrifying consequences. The Milk Of Sorrow is another worthwhile pick, especially because it’s been nominated for 2010 Academy Award in the Best Foreign Language Film category. The festival is showing from Wednesday 5 to Sunday 16 May. For more films and a screening timetable, check out the Spanish Film Festival website.

Festival of German Films

Whisky with Vodka at the 2010 Audi Festival of German Films

Herzlich Willkommen. From Wednesday 21 April, the crème de la crème of German cinema will hit our little town. The two-week festival will showcase over 30 titles across a number of different genres. The opening choice for this year is a highly entertaining ‘culinary comedy’ Whisky with Vodka. In the ‘German currents’ category of films, Storm and The White Ribbon look very thought-provoking, while ‘Berlin based’ category offers original and compelling stories in The Wolves of Berlin and Berlin’36. Audi Festival of German Films screens at Palace Norton Street Leichhardt and Chauvel Cinema Paddington Townhall until Sunday 2 May.

French Film Festival

Gainsbourg: Je t'aime … moi non plus

Now in its 21st edition, the Alliance Française French Film Festival kicks off in Sydney in less than a week. This year there is a grand total of 43 films, including comedies, love stories, thrillers, films that reject the injustice of a system, a way of life, oppression, and films that support human rights, freedom of thought and dignity.

Directed by the very popular Amelie director Jean-Pierre Jeunet, and the opening night choice for this year, is the captivating must-see, thrilling comedy Micmacs. If you liked Amelie, chances are you’ll enjoy this too. My favourite of the festival is the closing night’s Gainsbourg: Je t’aime … moi non plus feature, a directorial debut of the graphic novelist Joann Sfar. Of course, the film is about the father of French pop, Serge Gainsbourg. It portrays the life of the infamous iconic singer, poet, writer, actor and general provocateur. I’m really looking forward to seeing the fashions and music scenes of the times on the big screen, as well as finding out more about Gainsbourg’s fabled life. French Film Festival is showing in Sydney from Tuesday 2 March until Sunday 21 March. For more info, check out the Alliance Française French Film Festival website.